mild
Americanadjective
-
milder,
comparative
-
mildest
superlative
-
amiably gentle or temperate in feeling or behavior toward others.
- Antonyms:
- forceful
-
characterized by or showing such gentleness, as manners or speech.
a mild voice.
-
not cold, severe, or extreme, as air or weather.
mild breezes.
- Antonyms:
- severe
-
not sharp, pungent, or strong.
a mild flavor.
- Synonyms:
- bland
-
not acute or serious, as disease.
a mild case of flu.
-
gentle or moderate in force or effect.
mild penalties.
- Antonyms:
- harsh
-
soft; pleasant.
mild sunshine.
-
moderate in intensity, degree, or character.
mild regret.
-
British Dialect. comparatively soft and easily worked, as soil, wood, or stone.
-
Obsolete. kind or gracious.
noun
adjective
-
(of a taste, sensation, etc) not powerful or strong; bland
a mild curry
-
gentle or temperate in character, climate, behaviour, etc
-
not extreme; moderate
a mild rebuke
-
feeble; unassertive
noun
Synonym Usage
See gentle.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of mild
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English milde; cognate with German mild; akin to Greek malthakós “soft”
Explanation
A mild person is humble and meek — the opposite of bold. Mild things are also moderate in some way, like pleasantly mild weather or food that’s not spicy. Mild is the opposite of extreme. There’s nothing wild about mild. Mild comes from the Old English word milde for "gentle." Indeed, mild people are gentle. They don't brag or do cartwheels in supermarkets. They're mellow and submissive. Things can be mild too. Mild salsa doesn’t have many hot peppers. Mild can also mean slight, or small amount, as in a mild cold that doesn’t keep you home from school. If you skip school because you have a mild headache, you might just get a mild punishment.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
After a mild winter, glaciers had less snow cover than usual at the end of April - and an unusually early heatwave the following month accelerated the melting of snow.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
For early prediabetes and mild hypertension, those habits can rival a prescription.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
“And they reduce the feeling of heat. They work in a mild manner with the body’s physiological system bringing the system back into balance.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
Some people feel well for years and need only mild treatment while their disease remains stable.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026
It’s a mild spring day, but Ambrose is wrapped up from head to toe.
From "Dragons in a Bag" by Zetta Elliott
The researchers emphasized that their work focuses only on serious muscle disorders that result in hospital admission or death, not the milder muscle aches and pains that some people experience.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 30, 2026
So far, this one has been milder — bitcoin was down a little more than 50% from its peak, compared with drawdowns of as much as 80% during previous declines, according to Ferraioli.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
The National Park Service said it is using pumps to treat the water with what it called nanobubble ozone technology to kill the algae, along with hydrogen peroxide, which it said is milder than chlorine.
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026
The company has relied on its oral-health portfolio to offset weakness in product categories like respiratory and digestive health during a milder cold and flu season, particularly in Europe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
It feels milder outside, the air pleasantly damp, and instead of taking the train he walks the thirty blocks, up Park Avenue and over to Madison.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Excluding food and energy, the PPI rose by less than forecast and climbed 2.6% from a year ago, the mildest increase since July 2024.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 25, 2025
His most notable contribution here was an embarrassing collapse to the ground after the mildest head-to-head collision with Rasmus Hojlund.
From BBC ● Dec. 15, 2024
At its mildest, an aircraft may only experience slight erratic changes in altitude, but at the severe end, turbulence can cause large abrupt changes in altitude and angle of the plane.
From Seattle Times ● May 24, 2024
Leasure called himself “the nicest, quietest, mildest guy you’ll ever want to meet.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2024
He was the wisest, the mildest, the most eloquent of all the Aesir.
From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
